BJP’s decision to stay out of Outer Manipur seat triggers unrest

GUWAHATI: The BJP’s decision to not contest from the Outer Manipur constituency in the Lok Sabha elections and instead, support the Naga People’s Front (NPF) candidate has met with opposition.

Hundreds of alleged BJP workers vandalised the party’s district office in Senapati town on Saturday. The protestors said when they expected the party to field one of its grassroots workers in the seat, it decided against contesting and support the NPF candidate.

The BJP had on Friday stated that it would extend its support to the candidates of NPF in the Outer Manipur seat, National People’s Party (NPP) in the Shillong and Tura seats in Meghalaya and Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) in the lone seat in Nagaland. The NPP and the NDPP are BJP’s allies. The NPF is BJP’s partner in Manipur but not in Nagaland.

By not contesting in Meghalaya, the BJP returned the favours to the NPP. The NPP, which Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma heads, earlier decided not to contest in the two seats of Arunachal Pradesh and support the NDA candidates.

The BJP renominated its sitting MPs – Union minister Kiren Rijiju in the Arunachal West seat and Tapir Gao in the Arunachal East seat. Sangma welcomed the BJP’s decision. He was confident it would brighten the NPP’s poll prospects. However, according to BJP insiders, the party workers were not happy with the decision.